Sunday, February 7, 2016

The best kind for a dark snowy day when it is too icy to even go for a walk in the woods. Not that I'm going to say anything about the weather we've been having, except maybe to point out that this is not what I asked for.

I went through some magazines which had piled up on the end table. Why is it that so many of those wonderful plants you see pictured are never available where I live? Will it be any different this spring? I've made a list called 'Plants to Look For' but I might as well call it 'Impossible Dreams'. Oh well, guess that will add zest to the search...

Speaking of which, I'm going to be a vendor at a new event in Almonte. It's called Seedy Saturday, but it sounds like more of a gardening show, seeds being only one part of it. When I said I didn't have any seeds, not having collected any last summer because of course I didn't know this show was coming up, the organizer allowed as how I could sell my photo notecards. So I signed on, and have been busy making more notecards. Just images of my favourite native plants (no, not all of them ferns) glued onto notecards, with envelopes. If nothing else, my table will look wonderful! Hopefully some people will come and look at it and pick up a bookmark enticing them to come to my Plant Sale in May. I've put the Seedy Saturday poster in the sidebar - the first person who emails or comments that they are going and saw it here, gets two free tickets.

Doing the images for the notecards has been rather fun! I'm going through photos taken on so many wonderful field trips, hikes, visits to natural areas and such. Here are a few orchids taken at the White Lake Fen. I say, 'at', but maybe I should say, 'in'. It's a fen, not a bog, but it's surrounded on three sides by a very boggy swamp. I call it a 'wonderful/awful' place because it is. If you decide to go there, be prepared for exciting plants, especially orchids, and hordes of mosquitoes. Also wet feet, maybe a twisted ankle, maybe a complete soaking.Walking on the fen mat is not really recommended, but if you do, go slowly. If you get the mat moving it will do so in a wave motion, and you may tip over into the dark acidic water, and you may have trouble getting vertical again. I went on a field trip there once and one fellow did just that - he slowly tipped over and landed in the wet and then couldn't get back up. And it wasn't easy to help him as of course any movement towards him made it worse. Eventually he did rise again. What was funny, but not to him, was that he was the best-dressed and cleanest person in the group. Anyway, these are some images from last year's trip to the fen.

And here is a shot of my desk as I work on the notecards:

The bookmarks are for people to take home to remind them to come to my Plant Sale and Fern Day. The green surface with the squares marked on it is my trusty paper cutter. It's getting quite a workout!

The sun came out briefly (remember the sun?) and back-lit a white Hyacinth. I ordered 10 white Hyacinth bulbs in the fall, thinking to force them for a Christmas display, but the timing sure did not work out. According to the catalogue, they should have bloomed in 9 to 12 weeks. Hah, it was more like 20 weeks. But now I'm happy about it because I have some lovely flowers in this dreariest month of the year!

They're very strongly scented; I'm not sure I really like it. Same as those Daffodils everybody forces, I think they smell too strong. Plus their scent includes hint of cat... not my favourite odeur!

Ah, February. If you took a tuck in the year and eliminated February, would anybody notice?

Know and Grow:

The Monarch Page

Native Plant Events

Check out some of the links below for events, news, and possible sources of native plants in the Ottawa Valley!

(if you know of a local native-plant-related event or a source you'd like to see listed here, please get in touch.)

Native Plants sale at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. Probably June 2 in 2018, starting at 10am. Meet other native plant lovers, talk to knowledgeable gardeners, buy new native plants for your garden. Check out their website, www.ofnc.ca/fletcher.php, or find them on Facebook.

Events at Pine Ridge

Native Plants Sale: May 20, 2018, 10am to 4pm. Rain or shine! Small potted native plants, including ferns, garden art, discussions, tour, tea-in-the-tent. Come visit and learn more about native plants and enjoy a day at Pine Ridge!

Fern Day - July 22, 2018. A day of all things Fern! Garden tour (almost all native Ottawa Valley ferns), fern art, fern snacks, tea... Please email me if you would like to come!